A Really Bad Day
by JR-Boone
Summary: Santos took a deep breath at this and sunk into his chair. "There was a girl that came in last night around two, your age. She committed suicide," he said softly, his eyes misting up. "Oh god that's horrible," Santana said closing her eyes and shaking her head as her thoughts bordered on her mother for a second. "Do you know why?" She asked softly. "Teasing."


Title: A Really Bad Day.  
Rating: T for swearing.  
One-Shot  
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Characters in this story or the song that it is based on. I wish I did. I would totally be richer.  
**A/N: Trigger warning for mentions of suicide.  
**

* * *

Santana Lopez yawned and ran a slender hand through her raven colored locks as she stumbled down the stairs, her brain intent on devouring the last pop tart before she had to head off to school. Rubbing her eyes of sleep the Latina moaned happily at the smell of brewing coffee and rushed down the stairs. Brewing coffee only meant one thing this early, her father was awake.

Santana's relationship with her dad had always been a strong one. He had been the constant rock in her life through so much, moving to Lima she was young and the kids made fun of her accent, her mother committing suicide when she was twelve, and the normal day to day stresses of high school. And he had been the first person she had told that she was in love with Brittany. He had been extremely supportive, even inviting the bubbly blonde over that evening for their usual family dinner, a thing that had been practically sacred since her mom had died.

Her father was Santos Lopez the head ER doctor at Lima Memorial Hospital and that made him really busy. Usually the girl only got to really see him on the weekends, so it was always a treat when she woke up to find him awake as well and not passed out from exhaustion.

Turning into the kitchen she smiled when she spotted him set down at the table but frowned slightly as she took him in. Usually she would find the man happily humming a tune as he poured through the morning paper, or eating a bowl of cereal as he watched reruns of his favorites shows on the portable t.v. in there.

But this morning he sat rigid in his chair, his eyes staring intently at his cup of coffee and his eyes clouded over with exhaustion and melancholy. Santana recognized the look on his face, it was the look he wore any time he had dealt with someone in the E.R. that was her age.

Quietly the Cheerio walked up to him and gently laid a hand on his shoulder. "You okay Papi?" She asked as he sighed and relaxed back into his chair.

"Yah Sweetheart, just had a very long night," her father said reaching behind him and squeezing his daughter's hand softly.

"You want to talk about it?" Santana asked as she slipped into the chair next to him and took a sip from his coffee.

Her father seemed to think about it for a second, his eyes looking haunted before he shook a thought away and looked at his daughter. "Sweetie you would tell your old man if you were having problems with anyone at school right?"

Santana's eyebrows furrowed and she looked at her father questionably at the odd question. Usually these talks were about drinking and driving, this was obviously different. "What do you mean Papi?" She asked sipping from his coffee again.

"I mean if some of the other students were teasing you to the point that you felt like you couldn't handle it any more?" He asked reaching out to her and enveloping one of her hands in his own.

"Of course," Santana nodded quickly. "But you know you don't have to worry about that Dad. You know I never get teased for anyone," Santana said seriously as her father smiled softly, the action not quite meeting his eyes.

"I know," Santos chuckled humorlessly. "Lima Heights Adjacent right?"

"Exactly," Santana said nodding her head. "What is this all about anyways?"

Santos took a deep breath at this and sunk into his chair. "There was a girl that came in last night around two, your age. She committed suicide," he said softly, his eyes misting up.

"Oh god that's horrible," Santana said closing her eyes and shaking her head as her thoughts bordered on her mother for a second. "Do you know why?" She asked softly.

"Teasing," Santos sighed leaning forwards and resting his chin on his hands. "Her parents said that the letter she wrote said she had been teased constantly for the last two years and it was finally just too much for her."

"Was there something that set it off?" Santana asked, briefly thinking of all the things that went on at school that the parents and even the staff weren't aware of.

"According to the note no," Santos murmured. "It was just a gradual thing that kept building and building. The note said that yesterday had been like every other day before and she was too tired to let it continue today."

"That's just horrible. If it was that bad shouldn't her parents have noticed something?" Santana scoffed shaking her head.

"That's the sad thing," Santo's said heavily. "They were oblivious. They said she had never let on what was going on at school. They said she was constantly smiles and laughter. I can't imagine being them right now. And she's so small, practically underweight. It's a tragedy."

"H-how did she do it?" Santana asked, guilt starting to pull in her heart as she thought about all the kids she teased from day to day. No there was now way some name calling and slushies could do this.

"Slit her wrists," Santos grimaced shaking his head. "And this wasn't the first time she had hurt herself. I found words, horrible degrading words carved on every inch of her body that would be usually covered up. Things like ugly and annoying. It was horrible."

"And no one, not her parents or classmates noticed anything at all?" Santana asked shaking her head as she imagined just for a second someone close to her living like that and not noticing it.

"Apparently not," Santos sighed. "It's like the poor girl didn't have a friend in the world." Shaking his head Santos stood up from his chair and stretched his back looking down at his daughter. "Mija promise me if you ever have a problem like that you'll come to me first."

"I promise Daddy," Santana said standing up and letting the man pull her into a tight hug.

"Now go on and get ready for school," Santos said squeezing his daughter one more time before releasing her. "Sorry for the heavy this early in the morning."

"It's okay Dad, I'm just glad to spend time with you," Santana said reaching into the fridge and opting for a piece of fruit instead of her poptarts, she didn't have the time now anyway.

"I'm sorry I've been so busy lately," Santos yawned as he sat his coffee cup in the sink. "I promise this weekend we'll do something together, you can even invite my blonde daughter over," he said winking at the girl.

"I'm gonna hold you to that old man," Santana laughed as she heard her best friend Quinn Fabray honk in her drive way.

"I'm not that old!" Santos yelled indignantly as she Cheerio headed out of the kitchen. "Hey Santana," he called as she opened the front door.

"Yes old man?" Santana teased back.

"I love you Sweetheart," he told her, his eyes filled with warmth.

"I love you too Papi," Santana said smiling before running out the door and clambering into Quinn's front seat.

"Hey S," Quinn said smiling widely at the girl.

"Sup Q?" Santana chuckled before leaning back over her chair and smiling widely at her girlfriend. "Hey Baby," she said as Brittany leaned forwards and kissed her sweetly on the lips.

"Hey San can we go to the mall later today?" Brittany asked as she leant back into her seat and buckled her self in.

"Sure I'm in," Santana said smiling widely and turning to Quinn as the blonde backed out of the parking space. "What about you Q?"

"I'm in," Quinn said nodding happily. "I need new shoes anyways."

"Sweet," Brittany cheered from the back.

The rest of the ride to school was spent laughing and singing along to the music as they discussed Glee and Cheerios. A few times though Santana would look at her girlfriend and Quinn and think back to the conversation she had had with her Dad. It sent shivers down her spine to imagine losing one of them like that.

When they pulled into Quinn's reserved spot Brittany bolted out of the car and made a beeline to Mike Chang to discuss a bit of choreography she had come up with last night. Santana watched on smiling and grabbed the blonde's back pack along with hers and waited until Quinn had joined her side before the two began walking towards the bubbly blonde and the young Asian boy who looked shocked to have been bombarded this early with information.

"You okay S?" Quinn asked bumping shoulders with the Latina and arching an eyebrow.

"Why do you ask?" Santana frowned stopping in place and turning to the head cheerio.

"Because I know you and you had this weird look on your face a couple of times this morning. Like you were studying B and me for something," Quinn said resting a hand on the Latina's shoulder.

"Yah," Santana sighed fixing her backpack and glancing over to Brittany to make sure she was still preoccupied. "My dad had a hard case last night, it just got to me."

"Wanna talk about it?" Quinn asked her brows furrowing slightly.

"It was a suicide," Santana murmured and realization instantly washed over Quinn's face.

"Oh Sweetie," she said squeezing the brunette's hand.

"It just sucks. The girl is our age," Santana grumbled shaking her head.

"Is she…I mean," Quinn started, choking on her words.

"She didn't make it," Santana supplied sullenly. "My Dad told me her parents said they didn't even notice anything was wrong with her."

"Why did she do it?" Quinn asked curiously.

"Um…apparently she was teased a lot," Santana said awkwardly, her eyes glued to the floor as guilt pulled in her stomach once more.

Quinn's face turned red at this and the blonde shuffled uncomfortably. "That had to be some serious teasing I guess," she mumbled rubbing the back of her neck.

"I know right?" Santana said quickly, grasping to the double meaning in the blonde's words. "I mean sure we're catty but it's not like we're just vicious to anyone," she said quickly.

"No we're not," Quinn said just as quickly. "And it's just losers that we tease, the people who have it coming."

"Exactly," Santana nodded furiously before taking a deep calming breath and straightening her back.

"Come on," Quinn said plastering on a smile and linking her arm through Santana's. "Let's go rule the school."

"Like we do," Santana laughed as the two Cheerio's headed off to grab Brittany and start another day atop the social hierarchy, but smile as wide as they could, neither could shake the guilty foreboding feeling pulling at the their stomachs.

* * *

The odd feelings that morning had brought on laid mostly dormant as the day progressed for them. Life went on as usual with the exception that neither girl tossed a slushy or ordered one tossed, people wrote it off as them either having an off day or building up to something truly horrible.

It wasn't until fourth period when the guilty feeling in their stomachs rose up and became lumps in the back of their throats. The bell had just rang and everyone was settling into their seats, Quinn and Santana along with Brittany setting in the back as they normally did.

Quinn was reading a book and paying little attention to everything else, and Santana was giggling with Brittany as they filled out a random Cosmo survey together when the teacher started role call.

Like any other class she started with the A's and neither girl paid it any mind as she rolled past Adams, Arnez, Banks, and Baton, receiving a lack luster "here," before she called out Berry, once and then twice.

Quinn looked up from her book expecting to see Rachel Berry probably pouring over her textbook or notes but frowned when she saw instead the empty chair. Cocking an eyebrow the blonde looked over to Santana whose expression was similar as she took in the empty chair.

The two shrugged in unison as the teacher went on to Bindon and looked back to what they were doing. It wasn't odd for Rachel to be up to fifteen minutes late due to the numerous slushy facials the girl received, and just because they hadn't passed out any facials personally to the girl today didn't mean someone else hadn't.

The teacher droned on for about ten minutes before slumping down in her desk and picking up a book after instructing the students to study, which was code for just don't be loud.

At the twenty minute mark into the class Quinn sat down her book and glanced over at Rachel's empty seat, a frown deepening on her face. Glancing over to Santana she saw the Latina doing the same thing as she pretended to look at pictures of Brittany's cat on her phone.

Pulling out a sheet of notebook paper Quinn glanced back at Rachel's chair once more before quickly scribbling out a note and handing it over to Santana.

**Berry must have gotten one hell of a slushy bath. **

Santana chuckled uneasily at this as she remembered her father saying how small the girl who had killed herself had been. Berry was definitely small. There was no way. Shaking her head Santana leant over and quickly wrote back.

**Maybe she decided to stay home and burn that god awful wardrobe of hers.**

Quinn chuckled at the note and nodded before writing back.

**We can only hope.  
**

* * *

The lump in their throats became sheer dread at exactly three thirty p.m. when they walked into the Choir room and found it empty.

Rachel never missed Glee. Wind, rain, shine, fucking zombie apocalypse and that girl was there. Especially today. She had a solo today. She had a solo that she deserved but had still had to fight tooth and nail for because no one wanted her to have it on principal.

"Where the fuck is she," Quinn snapped turning to look at Santana, her hazel eyes already beginning to shimmer with tears.

"I don't know," Santana choked out looking at Rachel's empty chair.

"Where is who?" Brittany asked biting her lip and looking from Quinn to Santana. She wasn't stupid. She knew that something had been on their minds all day and this confirmed it. "What is going on?"

"Not now Britt," Quinn said quickly as Schue strolled in through the other open door. "Mr. Schue where is Rachel?" Quinn asked quickly, making the teacher take a step back in shock.

"Um…" he said dumbly looking at the blonde cluelessly.

"Rachel Berry, you know five foot nothing, a hundred pounds soaking wet. Where is she?" Quinn demanded resting her hands on her hips.

Seeming to recover from the shock Will cleared his throat and straightened up. "She didn't come in today. Why are you looking for her," he asked cautiously.

"Did her Dads call in or something?" Santana asked striding over to the teacher and her best friend with Brittany in tow.

"No um they didn't," Schue said shrinking back at the dark look in Santana's eyes.

"Oh god," Quinn gasped before running out of the room at full speed nearly knocking over Mercedes and Kurt.

"Is she alright?" Schue asked quickly as Santana and Brittany followed after her.

Not even bothering to answer the teacher the two Cheerios floored it to the closest bathroom to find Quinn retching into one of the toilets. "Hey Q calm down," Santana said sinking behind the blonde. "We're just over reacting. I'm sure it wasn't Berry."

"What about Rachel?" Brittany asked stomping her foot and crossing her arms.

Sighing Santana looked up at her girlfriend and shook her head, weighing if she wanted to tell the care-free blonde about what might or might not be going on. The determined look in the blonde's eyes made up her mind for her and Santana reached up and grabbed her hand to pull her down next to them. "My dad said last night he had a patient who tried to kill herself," she said quietly, her free hand soothingly rubbing Quinn's back.

Brittany looked blankly at her girlfriend for a second before her mind made the connection and her eyes misted up. "You don't think it was Rachel do you?" She asked, her bottom lip quivering.

"No I don't think it was," Santana said quickly shaking her head despite the horrible feeling in her heart. "There's no way. Berry is like fucking made of steal."

"No she's not," Brittany said quickly shaking her head. "She cries a lot in the auditorium when she thinks no one is watching."

"Those are just bad days though," Santana defended weakly. "I mean yesterday was just a normal day. She was annoying as usual and that was that."

"What if is was her S?" Quinn asked softly, her voice raspy from puking. She didn't hate Rachel Berry. She never had. She was actually a little fond of the girl, a lot fond to tell the truth. It was just fucking expected of her to tease the girl for the love of god. This was High School after all.

"No it wasn't," Santana said sternly pulling herself and both of the blonde's off the ground. "Look lets just go to her house and check in on her. Schue's an idiot after all, her Dad's probably did call in for her and he just didn't hear about it."

"Okay," Brittany said nodding, her voice sounding hopeful. "I hope so because Rachel is always nice to me."

"How do you mean nice B?" Santana asked gently pulling Quinn off of the floor and leading her over to the sinks to wash out her mouth.

"A lot of ways," Brittany sighed closing her eyes and fighting back sudden tears. "She always lets me copy off of her in math and the other day when Azimio made fun of me she stood up for me…I didn't thank her," the blonde finished staring down at the ground forlornly.

"Hey," Santana said resting a hand gently on her girlfriend's are and biting back waves of sudden guilt. "You can tell her in a couple of minutes."

"I hope so," Brittany mumbled, her vision clouding with tears.

"You can," Quinn said standing up from the sink, a look of steely determination glinting in her eyes. "We are over-reacting. We're going to go over to her damn house and she is going to be fine," the Cheerio said storming past the couple with her keys firmly in her hands.

"Santana I'm scared," Brittany whispered resting her face in the crook of her girlfriend's neck.

"Don't be scared Baby," Santana whispered as she led them out of the bathroom. "Rachel will be there."

* * *

She wasn't there. No one was. That became startling clear to them somewhere between pulling into an empty drive way and Quinn pounding on the door for ten minutes before finally collapsing in a mess of sobs.

"Fuck!" Santana shouted slamming her fist against the door before resting her head against it.

"It was her wasn't it," Brittany whispered wrapping her arms around herself as tears clouded her vision. "It was her and it's our fault."

"No!" Santana yelled spinning around and shaking her head. "Just because she's not fucking here doesn't mean a goddamn thing!" The Latina shouted hoarsely.

Brittany jumped back at the fury in her girlfriend's voice and her face instantly crumpled as she slid down the wall and began crying in earnest. "Oh god baby I'm sorry," Santana said quickly dropping down in front of the girl and wrapping her arms around her.

"Where is she San?" Brittany whimpered burying herself in raven hair as her body trembled uncontrollably.

"I don't know Britt," Santana said gritting her teeth and looking over to Quinn who was staring at the door like it was an unsolvable puzzle. "Q?" She question reaching across and resting a hand on the blonde's shoulder.

Blood shot hazel eyes turned to Santana and she felt her heart break at the horrified look on her best friend's face. "Where is she?" Quinn whimpered, her voice thick with emotion.

"I don't know," Santana said closing her eyes.

Suddenly a voice rang out among them and they turned to see a woman staring at them from the sidewalk. "Are you girls okay?" She asked shifting her weight from one foot to the next.

Clearing her throat Santana called back to the woman hoarsely. "Do you know where the Berry's are?"

The woman bit her lip and stared back at the girls seemingly weighing the odd sight of three Cheerleaders sitting down on her neighbor's front porch before she sighed. "I don't know what happened but around two last night an ambulance came. I looked out the window and their little girl was on the stretcher."

"Oh god," Quinn whispered as her head fell against the cold wooden door in defeat. "I loved her," she whispered heartbrokenly.

Santana felt like she had just been slapped and it took all her strength to call back to the woman a sullen "thanks."

The woman stared at them for a few more seconds before shaking her head and continuing on to wherever she had been going.

* * *

Feeling as if she was floating through a nightmare Santana somehow managed to lead a sobbing Brittany and a catatonic Quinn to the car and drive them to her house.

Quickly she took Brittany up to her room and laid her down in her bed. The girl had sobbed herself to sleep. Santana wished she could do that right now too. Instead she slowly descended the stairs to find Quinn staring blankly at her lap top.

"What are you looking at?" Santana asked sitting down next to her blonde friend and rubbing her face in frustration.

"It's all gone," Quinn droned lifelessly before she turned the laptop to Santana. "Her MySpace, her facebook, all of her videos. They're gone. All of them."

"Let me see," Santana sighed pulling the machine into her lap. Sure enough after a minute of pointless searching she had to admit that Rachel had wiped herself clean from the internet sometime between now and yesterday. She knew that for a fact because just yesterday they had watched the girl's latest MySpace video and told her to sterilize herself for the good of humanity.

"Fuck," Santana growled pushing the laptop away from her and crossing her arms.

"She was my friend," Quinn said looking at the Latina with wide tearful hazel eyes. "My first day of school she was my friend for three periods."

"What?" Santana asked completely confused at this. "No Quinn remember we met on your first day of school and did Cheerios try-outs right after school."

"No," Quinn said shaking her head and furiously wiping away her tears. "We met in fourth period. I met her first."

"How?" Santana asked turning on the couch and pulling her legs against her chest.

When Quinn started to explain her words were slow and disjointed and Santana could tell that it was taking every ounce of self-control the girl had to not start sobbing. "She…someone tried picking on me because I had trouble reading the school map. A senior. It's just my school before here. It was small. Everything was down one corridor. And Rachel just walked up to that senior in all her five foot nothing glory and shook her finger at them and then led me away and helped me find my class room. When…when the bell rang she was there waiting for me and she helped me find the two classes after that."

"Fuck," Santana whispered staring down at her hands now. She could remember what happened next.

"And then, then I sat down next to you in fourth period and they made the announcement for Cheerio try-outs. I was so excited," Quinn continued on gruffly.

"I remember," Santana whispered closing her eyes and shaking her head.

"And we walked out into the hall and one of the Cheerios slushied Rachel and I just…I just laughed at her with everyone else and called her a Tranny," Quinn choked out before sobbing into her hands and collapsing against Santana's knees. "She was nice to me and I was horrible to her."

Santana wanted to scream and cry that this wasn't their fault, but a large part of her knew that they were at least part…no mostly at blame. When they became Cheerios they girls older than them told them to pick someone to destroy and they had. They had chosen Rachel because she was an easy target. She was loud and talked non-stop about her dreams of Broadway. She dressed horribly and she had two fathers. It was the easiest target for them. They hadn't even thought twice.

"What are we going to do San?" Quinn asked her in a pitifully hoarse voice that made the girl's insides clench.

"I…I don't know," Santana whispered shaking her head as the flood of tears she had been holding back finally let lose.

"I wish I could take it all back. Every bit of it. I think that I could have made a life with her out of this town someday," Quinn whimpered as Santana pulled her into her arms.

"I never knew," Santana whispered burying her face in blonde locks and shaking her head. She couldn't imagine how this felt for Quinn. All she could think was what if this was Brittany?

"I just want to take it back," Quinn sobbed into the Latina's shoulder. "I just want to take it all back."

* * *

The next morning the three Cheerios were silent as they drove to school. It seemed that the world not only agree with their feelings but was actively blaming them as well. Above them dark storm clouds gathered dropping fat raindrops on them as they gathered their backpacks from Quinn's trunk.

"I think the world is crying for Rachel too," Brittany whispered shaking her head and holding her backpack tightly to her chest.

Santana took a deep breath and took her girlfriend's hand in one of her own and then looped an arm around Quinn's waist. "Come on," she murmured leading them towards the school.

It was obvious to them that no one knew yet…or possibly no one cared. Jocks were still carrying around slushy cups like swords and the Cheerios were still walking around like royalty. Santana wanted to slap them all.

They passed a few people who looked like they might have an ideal though. A crying Tina Cohen-Chang. A very somber looking Kurt Hummel. If it was any other day they would have remember that Tina was a crier over many things and Kurt had been looking a little woozy the day before. But it wasn't any other day. Not for them.

Silently the three girls navigated the school, hazel and blue eyes trained on the floor, and a set of dark brown eyes directly forwards, daring anyone to come within ten feet of them. They were exhausted. They wanted to go back home and just forget that yesterday had ever happened, but they couldn't. Quinn had pointed out that they would likely make an announcement today about Rachel and she wanted to be there.

Santana hovered protectively around the blondes when they reached their lockers, her eyes flitting up and down the hallway for any signs that they weren't the only one feeling like shit.

And then she saw someone. Someone who made her release a strangled sound halfway between relief and agony. Quinn and Brittany were seemingly too caught up in their own grief to hear her but Santana quickly got both of their attention by blindly slapping her hands towards them, her eyes still focused down the hallway.

"What is it?" Quinn asked turning to look at Santana at the same time as Brittany did.

"L-look," Santana choked out pointing down the hallway and prompting two more strangled sounds to echo out.

Rachel Berry was very slowly making her way up the hall on a set of crutches. Her foot was in a bright pink cast that matched the rolling backpack she was attempting to drag behind her. It was obviously taking most of her attention to focus on walking out of people's ways and keep her backpack behind her.

Suddenly Quinn let out a deep feral growl and Santana turned to see the girl's hazel eyes focused behind the hobbled brunette. Following her line of sight Santana felt her entire body bristle as a chuckling Azimo Adams and Dave Karofsky snuck up behind Rachel, each carrying two slushies in their hands.

Surprisingly it was neither Quinn or Santana who surged forwards first. In a flash Brittany was racing the hall, her usually bubbly demeanor replaced by one of pure fury. Quickly Santana slammed their lockers shut and she and Quinn both parted the hallway catching up to Brittany who had just stepped around a very nervous Rachel and was staring Azimo and Dave down.

Santana stepped around Rachel and crossed her arms expecting Quinn to be by her side. Instead she heard Rachel let out a surprised squeak and turned to see that the blonde had basically said fuck you to the universe and pulled the girl against her chest in a very possessive hug. Santana rolled her eyes good naturedly at Quinn who was getting an earful of Rachel's confused ramblings before turning back to the jocks who were watching the scene uneasily.

"Rachel is off limits from now on," Santana ordered, mindful of the full hallway of students who were watching the interaction closely.

"Everyone is off limits now," Brittany ordered making even Santana glance in her direction. "No more slushies. No more name calling. No more bullying. It ends today."

"You've got to be joking," Azimo said looking incredulously at the Cheerleaders.

"Do we look like we're fucking joking," Quinn snapped from where she still had her arms wrapped around a completely flabbergasted brunette.

"Come one it's…it's the way things go around here," Dave said motioning towards Rachel with the cups in his hands.

"Correction it's the way things went around here and it fucking stopped a few seconds ago when my girl B here told you it did," Santana growled lethally, daring the boy to contradict her. "From now on the only people who are getting dumped on around here are people who actually deserve it. You see someone picking on a kid half their size or a tiny ass girl on crutches have at them. But if you're the one being the ass be prepared to deal with me personally," the Latina said flexing her knuckles and glancing around the hall to make sure everyone was listening to her.

"You…you can't just do this," Azimo said even as he nervously lowered the slushies in his hands.

"We can and we are or have your forgotten who rules this school Adams?" Quinn said finally releasing Rachel from her death grip but keeping her close to her side.

Rachel was watching the entire scene with a look of awed confusion and just a hint of hope. Santana couldn't help but notice in the back of her mind that she looked very comfortable tucked under Quinn's arm.

The hallway was silent for a moment before a door opened and Coach Sylvester walked out, her eyes narrowing at the scene. At the sight of her the jocks looked a little hopeful but a pointed glare squashed any and all of their hope. The Cheerios didn't just run the school because they could. They ran the school because they had that woman's approval.

The coach turned her eyes to the girls and it was Brittany who broke away from them to start whispering quickly in her ear. The silence was deafening for a minute before Santana and Quinn caught a glint of sorrow in her eyes. Whatever she had said though obviously hit its mark because the Coach nodded once and then Brittany was at Santana's side again.

"You heard my Captains mouth breathers," was all she said before disappearing back into her office.

The two jocks stared blankly at the door before looking down at their slushies and then back at the three Cheerios standing protectively around Rachel. Finally their sense of self-preservation seemed to kick in because they simply turned and walked away.

Slowly the hallway broke out in small murmurs and Santana warded everyone away from them with a well pointed glare before turning around.

In a flash Brittany had pulled Rachel into a tight hug. "Thank you for sticking up to Azimo last week for me," the blonde said releasing Rachel and backing into Santana's arms.

Rachel's eyes widened comically and she looked from Santana to Quinn. "Um…not that I don't highly appreciate what just happened even though I am slightly dubious about your actions, but what just happened?"

"Let's just say we had a really shitty day yesterday and leave it at that?" Santana asked grabbing the girls backpack from the floor and moving it behind her.

"What happened to you Rachel?" Quinn asked, her eyes watering as she looked down at the brunettes cast.

Obviously unnerved by the entire situation the brunette nervously tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear. "It's kind of silly," she mumbled biting her bottom lip. "I was up late last night because someone hacked into my MySpace and Facebook accounts and deleted them and I was trying to restore them. Anyways I went to go get a glass of water and tripped over my Papa's shoes going down the stairs and broke my ankle."

"Why didn't you call in?" Santana asked trying her damndest to not let out a very relieved sigh.

"I love my father's immensely but they're not very good at crunch time. They didn't even think about it," Rachel explained cautiously as she held up an obvious doctor's note in one hand. "The ER was packed so I didn't even get to see someone until around nine and then I didn't get checked out until school was already over."

"What time did you get home?" Santana asked closing her eyes and taking a deep breath.

"Around four thirty I think," Rachel said looking from Cheerio to Cheerio. "Papa felt so bad that he took us out for a late lunch at my favorite restaurant."

Frankly Santana didn't know whether to laugh or cry. They had missed them getting home by about twenty minutes at best. Instead she just let out a sigh of relief and smiled at Quinn who looked the most peaceful she had ever seen her, one arm still possessively holding Rachel close to her body.

"So you had a bad day yesterday…and now this?" Rachel asked nervously, her hands gripping her crutch handles tightly.

"Let's just say it was a really really bad day," Santana sighed taking Brittany's hand and walking around the couple. Behind them she heard Quinn very nervously asking Rachel if she wanted to hang out that evening. Smirking the Latina looked over her shoulder just in time to see Rachel's face break out into the largest most sincere smile she had ever seen. One mirrored by Quinn.


End file.
